The Casualty Gap

The Causes and Consequences of American Wartime Inequalities

Douglas L. Kriner and Francis X. Shen

Definitive account of who actually bears the burdens of America's wars

Covers a broad history, from World War II to the post 9/11 wars

As casualties continue to mount in Iraq and Afghanistan, public interest in the subject will remain high

The Casualty Gap

The Causes and Consequences of American Wartime Inequalities

Douglas L. Kriner and Francis X. Shen

Description

The Casualty Gap shows how the most important cost of American military campaigns--the loss of human life--has been paid disproportionately by poorer and less-educated communities since the 1950s. Drawing on a rich array of evidence, including National Archives data on the hometowns of more than 400,000 American soldiers killed in World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq, this book is the most ambitious inquiry to date into the distribution of American wartime casualties across the nation, the forces causing such inequalities to emerge, and their consequences for politics and democratic governance.

Although the most immediate costs of military sacrifice are borne by service members and their families, The Casualty Gap traces how wartime deaths also affect entire communities. Americans who see the high price war exacts on friends and neighbors are more likely to oppose a war and its leaders than residents of low-casualty communities. Moreover, extensive empirical evidence connects higher community casualty rates in Korea and Vietnam to lower levels of trust in government, interest in politics, and electoral and non-electoral participation. A series of original survey experiments finds that Americans informed of the casualty gap's existence will accept substantially fewer casualties that those who are not told about inequality in sacrifice.

By presenting a wealth of evidence and analysis, this book seeks both to bolster public awareness of casualty inequalities and to spur critical dialogue about the nation's policy response. TheCasualty Gap should be read by all who care about the future of America's military and the effects of war on society and democracy.

The Casualty Gap

The Causes and Consequences of American Wartime Inequalities

Douglas L. Kriner and Francis X. Shen

Table of Contents

Preface 1. The Casualty Gap 2. Inequality and U.S. Casualties from WWII to Iraq 3. Selection, Occupational Assignment, and the Emergence of the Casualty Gap 4. Do Casualty Gaps Matter? 5. How Local Casualties Shape Politics6. Political Ramifications of the Vietnam Casualty Gap 7. Political Ramifications of the Iraq Casualty Gap 8. The Casualty Gap and Civic Engagement 9. The Future of the Casualty Gap References List of Tables and Figures

The Casualty Gap

The Causes and Consequences of American Wartime Inequalities

Douglas L. Kriner and Francis X. Shen

Author Information

Douglas L. Kriner is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Boston University.

The Casualty Gap

The Causes and Consequences of American Wartime Inequalities

Douglas L. Kriner and Francis X. Shen

Reviews and Awards

"Commendable."--The Nation

"The Casualty Gap's thoughtful analyses and arguments not only break down the larger statistical picture, but reveal how single communities respond to news of their own soldiers dying. Most disturbing is the clear pattern of civic and political disengagement in communities bearing the greatest sacrifices and most in need of increasingly unpopular government assistance."--Michigan War Studies Review

"An important book...Shen and Kriner are especially innovative in using multiple sources of evidence and methods to connect participation in recent wards to political participation at home. Summing Up: Recommended."--CHOICE

"Provocative and intriguing."--John Mueller, Professor of Political Science, The Ohio State University, and author of Atomic Obsession

"This inventive and deeply troubling book teaches that our volunteer military allocates the ultimate costs of war very unevenly, raising fundamental questions about distributive justice. Importantly, it also chronicles the effects of exposure to these costs, and isolation from them, on mass opinion, trust in government, and levels of political engagement, thus offering a significant contribution to understanding vexing trends in mass attitudes and political behavior."--Ira Katznelson, Ruggles Professor of Political Science and History, Columbia University, and former president of the American Political Science Association

"Deep into wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the U.S. national media is devoting increasing amounts of coverage to the variable costs of war. It is a rare piece of scholarship that tackles a highly politicized issue--this one, in fact, sizzles--but remains balances, fair, and informative. this book is just loaded with fresh empirical insights. For the comprehensiveness of its data and the variety of its empirical resesarch methods, Kriner and Shen's book will quickly establish itself as the leading academic treatment of the topic."--William G. Howell, Sydney Stein Professor in American Politics, University of Chicago